Cichlid Aquarium

Hello again everyone!

I finally have my 75 gal community tank up and running with:

a school of neon dwarf rainbows
a school of bosemanI rainbows
a school of albino cory cats
and a group of scarlet badis that are surprisingly doing very well with the group of rainbows (feeding time just takes a little extra effort)

I plan on adding in a group of pearl gouramis and that will be it for the tank.

I also have a little 5.5 gal aquarium set up with a single male betta that has been doing well

Now I am looking into setting up a more aggressive tank with cichlids. I was looking at about a 37gal tank, but I wasn't sure if that was quite big enough for that type of tank. What do you guys think?

 

What kind of cichlids do you want to keep? A 37 is big enough for a single, a pair, or a group of cichlids, depending on the species.

 

I'm still doing research so I really don't know too much about the different cichlids and sizes. I am really just looking for a colorful group of fish so I'm also up for any and all recommendations.

I am sure that I want an African Cichlid tank, not South American, but aside from that I'm not sure.

 

What are the dimensions of the tank? It's probably too small for many rift lake cichlids, outside of shellies or dwarf mbuna. You could do some of the West African cichlids though?

 

I'm still doing research so I really don't know too much about the different cichlids and sizes. I am really just looking for a colorful group of fish so I'm also up for any and all recommendations.

kribensis? a pair would do nicely in a 30"in tank.

 

I haven't definitively purchased a tank yet so that part is up in the air. I don't necessarily want another tank as big as my 75 but I would be willing to go up to 50-60. Also I read while researching one source suggested that it is better to stock the whole tank at once to avoid aggression issues (which I thought would be difficult on the bioload of the tank) and they suggested that with an aggressive tank you may be better off over stocking it in that due to the fish always moving around they will be less territorial because they don't have the opportunity to establish territories of their own. What do you guys think about this

 

I haven't definitively purchased a tank yet so that part is up in the air. I don't necessarily want another tank as big as my 75 but I would be willing to go up to 50-60. Also I read while researching one source suggested that it is better to stock the whole tank at once to avoid aggression issues (which I thought would be difficult on the bioload of the tank) and they suggested that with an aggressive tank you may be better off over stocking it in that due to the fish always moving around they will be less territorial because they don't have the opportunity to establish territories of their own. What do you guys think about this

Definitely depends on what fish you're talking about. Rift lake African cichlids and some of the larger, territorial American cichlids, yes. Most every other fish (including other cichlids), no.

 

So would a 50-60 gal tank be acceptable for a group of Rift Lake Cichlids?

 

So would a 50-60 gal tank be acceptable for a group of Rift Lake Cichlids?

Length is just as important, if not slightly more so, than volume. A 48" x 12" tank would be good.

 

There are some dwarf mbunas, ps saulosi, that are pretty. The shell dwellers I hear are incredibly fun to watch! I plan on getting some soon as a gentleman I know, fry grow out. Cichlids are super fun so if you can get a bigger tank, you'll be a lot happier with them. Be sure to use sand substrate cause they build sand castles!! I just use pool filter sand. Good luck!

 

As someone said above, the longer the tank the better. I would go 55 long. The are aggressive and you want to give them space to escape to and establish territories.

I'm not a cichlid expert by any means but I have heard it time and time again that room, rocks, good filtration and heavy stocking is the key to success.

I would say all male peacock and hap tank as apposed to mbuna.

 

I found a 55gal aquarium with the dimensions 48 1/4 x 12 3/8 x 21

What do you guys think? I have to still see if it's available, but if so I think this could work.

 

That's a normal 55 gal tank, and it should be fine!

 

I would do Mbuna in a 55 gallon. I think peacocks and haps need a 75 and up. Mbuna can be very colorful. You just need to build up rocks with lots of hiding places, and I would only add 5-6 at a time over the course of a month. That would spread out aggression at the new comer, but not over load the cycle.

 

Okay I definitely will look into mbuna. How many do you think I should put in the tank total? I'm still learning about their space requirements and such.

I've also read that you can keep a few synodontis catfish with them, is that true?

 

Be sure and do more research, but here are my suggestions. In a 55 gallon 12-14 mbuna cichlids, lot of different choices of mbuna to pick from. Or if you want to include some Syno cats, they do better in groups and the smaller species for a 55. So 10 mbuna cichlids and 6 synodontis lucipinnis OR 6 synodontis petricola.

The point is to overstock to reduce aggression, but not CRAZY overstock! You will need like double the filtration you would have for a normally stocked 55 gallon.

 

I also have another tank that I could potentially get my hands on a 65 gal, but its more of a taller tank than long so I don't know if that would be better or worse than the 55gal. (18 deep x 36 wide x 24 tall)

I'm definitely going to do a ton more research before I actually get any fish and these tanks need some clean up before I do anything with living fish.

 

Also I've read on some websites different stocking plans for a 55-gal tank and I found these two to be most interesting to me, but I trust all of your opinions more than random websites! haha so these are the plans I like:

(1m, 5f) Metriaclima Estherae (red zebra), (1m, 3f) Pseudotropheus AceI (yellow with blue tail), and (1m, 5f) Cynotilapia Afra (blue-barred)

OR

(1m, 4f) Labidochromic Caeruleus (yellow with black bars on fins), (2m, 10f) Pseudotropheus DemasonI (blue-barred), and (1m, 5f) Iodotropheus Sprengerae

What do you guys think?